Daily Health Post

WikiLeaks: Alcohol Industry Bribed Congress To Denounce Cannabis

by DailyHealthPostJuly 7, 2017

Recreational cannabis use is on its way to becoming as widespread as alcohol. Top alcohol companies aren’t pleased with the prospect though. It’s been revealed that top alcohol companies spent money on persuading members of Congress of the dangers of cannabis consumption. One of their main focusses is the dangers of “marijuana-impaired driving.”

However, if you take a closer look at the two, there really is no comparison. Alcohol is responsible for an estimated 88,000 deaths in the United States yearly (2). Marijuana, on the other hand, isn’t directly linked to any deaths (1).

Unlike alcohol, it’s nearly impossible for marijuana to cause a fatal overdose. Smoking marijuana can damage your lungs and respiratory tract but ingesting or taking CBD oil has little, if any, long-term effects (3,4). Alcohol, on the other hand, has a high potential for addiction and abuse. Plus, it has terrible consequences on your brain and liver (5).

Here’s a comparison of the two:

Countless smear campaigns have depicted marijuana as a “gateway drug” that opens the door to abusing more dangerous drugs (6). In the process, the American government has lied about cannabis and routinely blocked cannabis research.

Medicinal Cannabis

Cannabis has been used as medicine for millennia. In China, doctors used it as an anesthetic. It was also a staple in Native American, India, and Egyptian traditional medicine.

Cannabis was the medicine of choice in America for centuries. In fact, until the 1900s, it was socially and medically acceptable to grow, harvest, and use cannabis. People grew warier of the drug during the great depression and it became associated with violence, crime, and other socially deviant behaviors. Propaganda films reinforced the association. By 1931, 29 states had outlawed marijuana. By 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act effectively criminalized the drug (7).

Funnily enough, cannabis has a long history outside its medicinal and recreational use. Some historians argue that the Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper (8). What’s more, during World War II, the “Hemp for Victory” encouraged farmers to grow hemp. It was then used to make marine cordage, parachutes, and other military necessities. Hemp can also be used to make clothes and industrial products.